The nottuswara (''nōṭṭusvaras'', from "

note Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...

" + "

swara Svara or swara (Devanagari: स्वर, generally pronounced as ''swar'') is a Sanskrit word that connotes simultaneously a breath, a vowel, the sound of a musical note corresponding to its name, and the successive steps of the octave or '' ...

s") are a set of 39 compositions of which 33 are documented in the book prathama abhyasa pustakamu authored by Sri Subbarama Dikshitar in

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is ...

Muthuswami Dikshitar Muthuswami Dikshitar (Mudduswamy Dikshitar)(, 24 March 1776 – 21 October 1835), mononymously Dikshitar, was a South Indian poet, singer and veena player, and a legendary composer of Indian classical music, who is considered one of the musical ...

(18th c.), who is celebrated as one among the

Trinity of Carnatic music The Trinity of Carnatic music, also known as The Three Jewels of Carnatic music, refer to the outstanding trio of composer-musicians of Carnatic music in the 18th century, being Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar and Syama Sastri. Prolific in compo ...

. A few other nottusvaras were added later by his disciples which adhere to the original idea and intent. Nottusvaras are notable as an interaction between the East and the West during the East India company rule, being based on Western sources, mostly simple melodies inspired by Scottish and Irish tunes. They are all composed with

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

lyrics in the Western C major scale, whose pitch intervals correspond to that of the Shankarabharana raga scale in Carnatic music, or the Bilaval

that ''That'' is an English language word used for several grammatical purposes. These include use as an adjective, conjunction, pronoun, adverb, and intensifier; it has distance from the speaker, as opposed to words like ''this''. The word did not ori ...

of Hindustani music. Technically, the compositions are not in Shankarabharana proper, being based on simple melodies and devoid of the ornamentation (''gamaka'') that is characteristic of Carnatic music. On the other hand, the lyrics (''sahitya'') of these compositions are entirely Indian and consistent with the rest of the ''stotra''-literature, or other songs addressed to similar deities. Sometimes the name "nottuswara" is used to refer to other compositions based on Western notes, not necessarily by Muthuswami Dikshitar.

Violin

According to one popular account, the violin was introduced into Carnatic music by Baluswami Dikshitar (1786–1858), the younger brother of Muthuswami Dikshitar. He encountered the instrument being played by British bands in colonial Madras, and decided to learn it. The music was mostly Irish and Scottish fiddling, rather than

Western classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" ...

. After three years of lessons, he adapted the violin to Carnatic music. It is believed that Muthuswami Dikshitar composed these lyrics to aid his brother master the plain notes on the

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

Publication history

They were first documented in print by C. P. Brown in 1833. In 1893, Manali Chinnaswamy Mudaliar published them with European notation, and in 1905, they were compiled by Subbarama Dikshitar as 'Prathamaabhyaasa pustakamu' in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

. In recent years, Kanniks Kannikeswaran has researched these compositions further, found the sources of a few compositions, and given several lectures.

Examples

The European songs used as basis include "Limerick", "Castilian Maid", "Lord MacDonald's Reel", "Voulez-vous Danser?", and "God Save the King".

List of ''Nottuswaram''s by Muthuswamy Dikshithar

# Anjaneyam sadaa http://www.karnatik.com/c3326.shtml # Chintayeham sada http://www.karnatik.com/c3328.shtml # Dasharathe dinadayanidhe http://www.karnatik.com/c3145.shtml # Dinabandho dayasindho http://www.karnatik.com/c3330.shtml # Guruguha padapankaja http://www.karnatik.com/c3332.shtml # Guruguha sarasijakarapada http://www.karnatik.com/c3333.shtml # He maye maam http://www.karnatik.com/c3334.shtml # Jagadisha guruguha http://www.karnatik.com/c3335.shtml # Kamalasana vandita http://www.karnatik.com/c3336.shtml # Kanchisham ekamranayakam http://www.karnatik.com/c3337.shtml # Maye chitkale http://www.karnatik.com/c3338.shtml # Muchukundavarada tyagaraja http://www.karnatik.com/c3339.shtml # Pahi durge http://www.karnatik.com/c3340.shtml # Pahi mam janaki vallabha http://www.karnatik.com/c3341.shtml # Pankajamukha shankarahitha http://www.karnatik.com/c3342.shtml # Paradevate bhava http://www.karnatik.com/c3343.shtml # Parvati Pate http://www.karnatik.com/c3344.shtml # Pitavarnam bhaje http://www.karnatik.com/c3345.shtml # Ramachandram rajivaksham http://www.karnatik.com/c3348.shtml # Ramajanardana http://www.karnatik.com/c3347.shtml # Shakthisahitha ganapathim http://www.karnatik.com/c3354.shtml # Shyamale Meenakshi http://www.karnatik.com/c3357.shtml # Sadashiva jaye http://www.karnatik.com/c3349.shtml # Sakala Suravinuta http://www.karnatik.com/c3350.shtml # Samagana Priye http://www.karnatik.com/c2642.shtml # Santana Saubhagya http://www.karnatik.com/c3352.shtml # Santatam Pahi Mam http://www.karnatik.com/c1826.shtml # Shankaravara http://www.karnatik.com/c3355.shtml # Somaskandam http://www.karnatik.com/c3358.shtml # Varashivabalam http://www.karnatik.com/c3363.shtml # Varadaraja http://www.karnatik.com/c3362.shtml # Vagdevi Mamava http://www.karnatik.com/c3360.shtml # Vande meenakshi http://www.karnatik.com/c3361.shtml

Notes

References

* * * {{citation , year=2006 , title = Singing the classical, voicing the modern: the postcolonial politics of music in South India , author1=Amanda J. Weidman , publisher=Duke University Press , isbn=978-0-8223-3620-4 , page=32 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fMg7aKE8RNgC&pg=PA32

External links

Muthuswamy Dikshitar - nottu svara sahityas
The (Sanskrit) lyrics of all compositions

recordings of the Sanskrit lyrics with Western music
British Raj and Indian Classical Music
other examples of interaction Carnatic compositions